


Let it be Fluffy

by AmyNChan



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Destroy Ending, F/M, I've had this on my computer for a while now, XD, and it is FINALLY DONE, such randomness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyNChan/pseuds/AmyNChan
Summary: Garrus and Shepard have a nice moment post-reaper.





	Let it be Fluffy

“I swear on the Illusive Man’s dead carcass, if I have to smell one more obnoxious perfume, I am going to _jump_ out of that window.”

Garrus could only hum thoughtfully as he and the love of his life entered their temporary abode.  There were actually many things she could have chosen to be frustrated about.  The lack of mobility, for one.  She still needed those crutches to get around and stairs were no one’s best friend when needing medical assistance.  They would have taken the elevator, but _their_ elevator had no power.  She also could have gotten frustrated by the fact that everyone in the chain of command was coddling her like a baby while simultaneously parading her around like the universe’s most amazing miracle tourist attraction.  Not like she’d cheated death four times and counting or anything.  Nothing as impressive as having rallied the entire universe together to fight the reapers, obliterating centuries-long tensions and wars in the process.  But all of her accomplishments were beside the point.  She could have also chosen to be frustrated at the feeling of helplessness he knew she felt whenever they saw Joker.  The man had lost everything to this war, and Garrus knew that she would do her best to be there for him as he had been for her.

But no.  Out of everything she could have chosen to be frustrated about, Jane Shepard had decided that her ire was best directed at a lack of understanding concerning human customs as shown by other species who were desperate to impress her.

And it was so obscure that it was funny.

“The hell you laughing at, Vakarian?” Shepard directed her irritation at him as she slowly made her way into the room.  Garrus closed the door behind them, doing little to mask his laughter.

“Dignitaries and residents of the Citadel know how to treat other species.  New recruits who’ve never seen a human before?  Not so much.”  Garrus led his annoyed human to the couch.  He helped her ease down into her seat before doing the same for himself.  “I bet they have little more than vids to go off of.”

“Heh.  I remember a certain turian talking about how _helpful_ those vids were.”  Shepard leaned back on the couch, eyeing him thoughtfully.  Her smirk was all too telling.

“Yes, but I didn’t see any of _those_ turians trying to flatter your hips or—what did that one say…?” Garrus reached forward to thread his talons through the tresses of her hair.  It was a sensation he was still getting used to after all this time, but one he wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life experiencing.  “Ah, yes, I believe he said there was no way he was going to ‘touch your flappy fringe’.”

Shepard snorted and Garrus’s mandibles twitched in amusement.  One of the cadets had been so bewildered by the concept of hair that he’d almost turned around and fled when Shepard had been escorted in his general direction.  That phrase had been the loudest portion of a hushed exchange between him and his peers, which left most of the cadets—involved or no—highly embarrassed.

“It’s good to know some things are just universal,” commented Shepard as she finally relaxed.  “I remember some of the kids in the Alliance asking how turians ever got comfortable and why asari were always blue.”

“Only the universe’s most pressing questions, I assume.”

“Yup.”

Garrus chuckled as he continued to weave his fingers through Shepard’s hair, which elicited a hum of approval from the commander herself.  It was short, thankfully, so it wasn’t too much of a culture shock to deal with in that respect. However, the softness of her—the extra skin and fat that was so common in humans—confused him on more than one occasion.  He supposed that their surplus made humans wonder how turians could possibly live without.  “Is everything on Earth as squishy as humans?  Or is that just you guys?”

“Going back to kiddie questions, Garrus?”

“Only the most pressing ones.”

Shepard chuckled, now fully relaxed and overpowering perfumes forgotten.  She fully turned her head towards his, and he could see her green eyes flicking back and forth, searching for an answer.  “Most everything on Earth has some way or another of storing energy.  Fat’s the most common thing we’ve got.”

“Anything store _more_ fat than humans?”  Garrus felt rather than heard the response to his jibe.  A soft chuckle and an equally playful shove in his direction was enough to get the message through.

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why not?”

“There’s no way anything could be softer than you.  Or as squishy.”

“Careful, you sound like Wrex.”

Garrus shrugged, a smile on his face even as Shepard pulled out her omnitool.  “Somehow, I’m pretty sure I’ll live.”  He watched as she typed something in and waited with her for the results to appear.  What he saw next was baffling.

“What is _that_?” asked Garrus as he tried to maneuver closer to her omnitool.  It was a square shaped animal that had one side which tapered off into a slope.  The entire creature was neutral grey in color and surrounded by water.  Perhaps the most astonishing, however, was the human swimming alongside it.  It seemed about a tenth the size of the creature.

“ _That_ ,” said Shepard with some pride.  “Is a sperm whale.  One of the biggest animals on Earth and obviously has more fat than we do.”

Garrus scoffed as he realized that had been her intent the entire time.  “Not exactly a fair comparison when humans can have fifteen percent of their body covered in fat.  That human doesn’t even take up fifteen percent of the size of that…sperm whale?”

Shepard scowled as she typed something else into her omnitool.  Garrus decided to sit back and wait for her next specimen.  Surely there wasn’t anything…

“Is that…” Garrus searched his memory briefly for the correct phrase.  “…a bear?”

“Damn straight.”  Shepard looked so pleased with herself, and Garrus took victory in the fact that he actually _recognized_ the thing.  “Black bear, actually.  One of the biggest.”

“Uh-huh…” said Garrus as he looked from the omnitool to Shepard.  “And you’re telling me this bear has more fat than a human?”

“Yup!”  Shepard did that extra sound with her lips.  It sounded as though someone had released a heat sink from a gun, but softer.  Everything about humans seemed softer than anything military, to be honest.  However, he almost never had trouble remembering that this particular little human could kick his ass.  Almost.  “You’ll have to ask Traynor for the specifics, but these guys can lose about 30% of their weight just from fat.  Take _that_.”

“ _Why_?”  Why would a creature be so willing to lose so much of its energy reserves?  Unless these kinds of numbers came from experiments?  Garrus eyed Shepard warily.  Shepard sighed and pulled up another link on her omnitool, which she then forwarded to the doubting turian.  Hearing the notification, he withdrew his talons from her hair and pulled up what looked to be an older information site on bears and their natural cycles.

“It’s called hibernation.  Bears build up fat so they can sleep for a few months and come out of it just fine.”

Garrus had so many questions about the topic.  Why would bears need to sleep?  _Where_ would bears sleep for that long?  Why don’t humans hibernate?

But he had before him a document with quite a bit of information on it.  It would be a shame to let all this knowledge go to waste.  Besides, he always read what she sent.  It just wouldn’t do to break that tradition now.

He started to scan the information.

* * *

* * *

 

Shepard chuckled as Garrus began to comb the website.  He was attentive to detail—not everyone knew just _how_ attentive—and she knew he would be completely absorbed for at least the next five minutes.  She took the moment to stretch.  Working with her crutches meant several aches all over her body, and she felt infinitely better when the sensation of relief walked up her spine in a series of pops.  She could also feel how popping her back loosened her shoulders.  Happily, she let her hands fall once again.

She cast an eye towards the man she cared about most.  The final battle’s wounds had all but healed on him.  His arm had recovered almost complete movement and his stride was as strong as ever.  He was lucky to have survived, much less in one piece.  If Shepard believed, she would have called it no less than a miracle.

Still, there were nights when he had terrors.  They both got them.  It was going to take much longer in therapy before they could go more than a week without waking both themselves and each other in the middle of the night cycle. She knew there were many more nights ahead of them with cold sweats and hoarse throats. 

She supposed that was what made moments like this all the more important to her, all the more necessary and vital.  These were the small moments that she could spend with the people she loved.  Garrus had once told her that the best part of a battle that could decide the fate of the entire galaxy was that it was a good excuse to tell the people you cared about that you cared about them.  Ever since she had gasped for air on Earth after the Catalyst, she had decided that the eve of a fate-deciding battle was a nice start.  She decided that the people she cared about deserved more than just moments stolen in between fights and stress-relieving sex right before their biggest battles.  The people she truly loved and cared for deserved her retirement and her time.  Being the galaxy’s greatest hero who had _more_ than earned her pension, she felt happy to give them this gift.

Garrus, however, seemed fully immersed in the wide world of black bears she had thrown him into, so that quality time would have to wait a few moments longer.  She chuckled as she realized anew that she didn’t mind his tendency to ensure that he understood something fully before making any comments about it.  It was one of the things that made Garrus Garrus.

She also decided that she was a bit thirsty.  She turned her head and noted that the kitchen was only a few steps away.

_Easy_.

Employing her tactical silence, Shepard removed herself from the couch and gingerly placed her weight on her healing foot.  The months of intense physical therapy and long days of constantly being paraded around for publicity stunts were finally paying off.  Her weaker leg stood firm alongside its partner.

She grinned at the thought, then turned her eyes to the next goal:  The kitchen.  She pushed herself forward and onto her newly stable leg.  Her body rose with the natural pace of walking and her heart thundered without the assistance of even her personal use cane, which still lay resting by the door.  For one moment, one shining moment, her entire center of gravity lay above that one leg.  For one moment, it held strong and fast.  For one moment, she could support herself with her weakest link.

The moment passed.  Her steady foot came to rest in front of her planted foot, and her leg ached.  Muscles that were not accustomed to holding her up screamed in protest as soon as she stabilized herself.

She had taken a single step.  She realized this with shaky laughter and an emboldened viewpoint.  The kitchen was closer.

Her next step was easier, as her healing leg was accustomed to being bent and out of the way during the day.  The one after that went quicker than the first and her strained leg almost threatened to give out on her halfway through.  She caught herself swiftly.  Made one final step.  Reached forward with her leg.

And caught the counter with her hand.

_Hah!_ thought the soldier, her triumph showcasing itself in a self-satisfied smirk.  _Never be able to walk again, my ass!_

She might have only taken four steps from the couch to the kitchen, but those steps felt monumental to her.  Her leg might have been screaming at her and her body might have been pissed off, but she couldn’t have brought herself to care.  She was still full of surprises and breakthroughs.  It was a fine accomplishment.  She allowed herself to bask in it for a moment or so.

Once finished with her moment-basking, Shepard turned her attention to the sink, which sat just a few feet beyond her reach.  She felt confident with the steps she had taken, but years of physically demanding feats had forced her to become very in-tune with her body and its needs.  She knew when to push and when to back off.  So it was with the greatest practical tactical brilliance that Shepard deigned her shaking and noodlelike leg out of commission for the next couple of hours or so.  It was this same brilliance that told her to lean on the counter and use it as a makeshift crutch to hobble her way over to the sink.

Shepard gripped the counter tightly and allowed it to be her guide as she half-hopped and half-hobbled her way to her goal.  Each lone footfall was carefully planned and executed, each gained meter a new success.  With this slow system at work, she reached her mission objective in no time.  Now all she needed was a…  dammit.

This was the point where Shepard would have had to choose between going all the way back to the edge of the counter to pull out a cup from the cupboard or leaning on her elbows to cup water in her hands to drink from.

She would have had to make such a decision had a certain turian, who had been watching silently and proudly from the couch, chosen not to intervene at that precise moment.  He made quick work of the distance she had so proudly traversed to fetch her a cup from the higher shelves.  Shepard smirked despite her strain.

“Sure, hide the cups where the human can’t reach them.  I see how it is.”

“What if I said I did it because I like helping where I can?” asked Garrus as he walked up behind her and handed her the cup.  She always knew by the tone of his voice when he was smiling.

“Then I’d tell you to help me by putting them in my reach.”  Shepard filled the glass with water from the tap before letting loose a chuckle.  “You can put them back after I get full use of my leg back.”

“Confident, are we?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t just watch me walk on my own without help.”  Shepard turned off the tap and grinned up at her turian.  “I know you like watching me walk.  Something about _supportive waists_.”

Garrus’s mandibles flared out in laughter.  His hand reached behind his fringe as his eyes darted away from her face.  “You’ll never let me live that down, will you?”

“Not as long as we both shall live,” said Shepard lightly.  She watched as Garrus’s embarrassment melted away—his awkward, adorable embarrassment—and felt his arms reach around her in an embrace.  Though he towered at least two feet above her in stature, he never looked as vulnerable as when he was holding her like this, as if she could be whisked away from him in a matter of moments.  She felt rather than heard the subvocals that rebelled against such an idea.

She reached her empty hand up towards him, trusting his own hands to keep her balanced as she placed the cup down.  She looked up to find him staring down at her, his ice-blue eyes intense.

“I thought you wanted something to drink?”

“Well, I’ve got a tall drink of water right here.”

“But you just put it down.”

“Human phrase,” explained Shepard.  She saw his eyes flash as he tried to discern what the matter of the phrase was.  She loved this man so much.  “You look good.”

Garrus’s chest rumbled with a chuckle as he lowered his head further, touching his forehead to hers.  “You’re like an apien.”

“Didn’t you have one of those as a kid?” asked Shepard, remembering stories of the small, silver animal that accompanied the Vakarian family on family outings, trips, and even military training sessions.  Garrus made a sound in the back of his throat that was almost a scoff.

“Nanus was Solana’s, actually.  Or, at least Solana was Nanus’s favorite.  Apiens don’t really hide their preferences very well.”  Garrus thought on it for a moment.  “Or at all, really.”

Shepard laughed, once again wondering what it must have been like to be raised with a sister _and_ a pet.  Apiens seemed like a sort of proud dog/cat hybrid sheathed in silver.  From its crested haunch to its covered eyes, the idea of the animal had taken some adjusting to when Garrus had first brought it up.  But after seeing how well-beloved the memory of their apien was, Shepard found it no surprise that the turians had decided to name their galaxy after the creatures’ crests when entering the galactic stage. Apiens were fiercely loyal to their turian housemates, and turians returned the loyalty whenever an opportunity arose.

“So what about me is so apien-like?” Humor was evident on her voice and Garrus responded to it with a smirk.

“The Great Commander Shepard, always rushing into the battlefield to get what she wants,” narrated Garrus, trying and failing to sound like an announcer for an epic vid.  The amusement that broke through ruined the effect he was going for, but Shepard was enjoying the show nonetheless.  “Not being subtle about any of her hints and luring poor turians like myself into her dangerous lair.”

“Last I checked, this ‘dangerous lair’ belonged to both of us for the next few nights,” said Shepard impishly, placing her recently emptied hand atop Garrus’s on her waist.

“A technicality in my otherwise accurate analysis.” 

“Oh?  So I lured you here, did I?” Shepard knew her purr could never match Garrus’s, but he’d never complained when she used it.  Quite the opposite, really.  His hands tightened on her waist.

“Absolutely.  Nothing else in the galaxy has _quite_ the draw you do, my dear.”

Shepard’s eyes fluttered shut and she hummed thoughtfully.  The two of them stood there a moment, forehead on forehead.  Her right fingertips moved delicately over his scar, thinking about that last part about the apiens.  About the battlefields.  Though his wounds had long-since healed, she knew they came from a time she had nearly lost him.  When he very well might have died on Omega.

Her left hand tightened over Garrus’s.  Where would she be without him?

“Jane?” She opened her eyes as Garrus pulled away.  Just far enough to look down at her, concern clouding his eyes.  “Come back to me.”

He’d said it softly, aware that her mind was pulling away from this.  This life that they lived now, filled with news reports and social gatherings and political rallying, felt like it was falling away to the ‘could have beens’.  The terrible, awful, horrible ‘could have beens’.

“You could have died,” whispered Shepard, turning her attention back to his scar.  It was true that it ‘drove her wild’ at times, but it was also true that the scar and the memories that accompanied it haunted her at times.  “We’ve both dodged so many bullets…I guess some part of me still wonders if this is all real.  If we really survived or if the Reapers killed us all and we’re dead without realizing it.  Or worse, processed.  I don’t want any part of me to be used by those things…”

Garrus stood for a moment, contemplating her words.  As he did, Jane absorbed every detail of his face.  His eyes, his brow plates, his mandibles, his facial markings.  She knew she was looking for anything out of place.  Anything that might suggest or even hint at the idea that her worst fears were true.  She found nothing.  Then his subvocals thrummed.  “Well, if we’re both dead, then this has got to be the driest bar I’ve ever seen.”

Shepard frowned at him.  The sentiment was not lost on her, and it was appreciated, but her real worry lay unaddressed.  He returned her gaze for a moment, his expression softening even further, before continuing.  “And if we were part of that Reaper, I’d imagine that we’d be seeing a lot more numbers.  No point in letting an emotionless robot hell-bent on organic extinction experience emotions like this.  Not when we could be used for calibrating instead.”

His words now acted as a balm against her suspicions.  She exhaled, slightly relieved and slightly amused.  “How do you always know exactly what to say?”

“Practice,” answered Garrus.  “We’ve been together a long time.”

Shepard smiled.  “We have.”

The two of them stood there for a moment, breathing together and enjoying the fact that the worst part of their lives was over.  The reapers were well and truly gone.  The galaxy was mending itself.  Slowly, but surely, life was moving forward.

Jane thought it was a beautiful thing.  Exactly what she had fought so hard for.

“Jane?”

“Hm?”

That specific tone of voice pulled her from her far-reaching thoughts.  It was a tone of voice that she knew _very_ well.  It was equal measures of flirting and nervous, that endearing mixture of suave and awkward that she knew she would always adore.

“Will you bond with me?”

Shepard hadn’t looked away from his face when he’d asked.  He hadn’t looked away from hers.  She could see the intensity of his bright blue eyes, the nervous fluttering of his mandibles.  She knew that he probably felt exactly as she did in that moment:  nervousness, a twinge of baseless fear that concerned the future.

But, more than anything, there was a steady thrum of excitement in her veins.  An electric current under her skin.  An unchanging warmth emanating from her very soul.  She felt excitement and peace all at once.  It only ever happened when she got a very good feeling, especially when Garrus was concerned.  She smiled at him.

“There’s no Shepard without Vakarian, Garrus,” she reminded him.  “If you want a bonding ceremony, we’ll do that.  But I wasn’t planning on leaving one way or the other.”

She felt his pleased subvocals against her back and smiled.  She knew that bonding would mean a few changes in store—Garrus’s markings, for example, would be expected to change to wherever they got married as it would be their new ‘home’ and there might be some discussion about her getting some markings as well—but she wasn’t worried about it.  They were in this together.  Always had been.

Now she had one more assurance that they always would be.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this on my computer for ages and finally got around to finishing and editing it up. XD Big thanks to [EdenDaphne (edelet)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edelet/works) for giving it a look and letting me know what needed a bit of attention!
> 
> I sincerely hope you enjoyed this self-indulgent fic. *^_^*


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